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SPEECH OF C. I. CLAY, 

AT LEXINGTON, KY. 
DELIVERED AUGUST 1, 1851. : 




-' I--, 



Citizens of Fayette: — I present myself before you, a candidate for 
the office of Governor of Kentucky. 

I come, not as my rivals Messrs. Dixo:rj and Powell, backed by 
great political parties. I stand against the ruling class in the State and 
Nation — the wealth, — the social ban, — the press — and the pulpit. — 
These are great odds. Yet standing here on the basis of Truth, Jus- 
tice, and Liberty, as humble in popularity and ability, as the least ap- 
preciative of my friends or enemies would have me/ I do not shrink 
from the duties which every citizen of a republic owes to his country. 

No man knows better than I the deep rooted prejudices, which have 
been studiously planted in the minds of this people, from the beginning 
against me personally, and the cause which I advocate. Of this I do 
not complain. He who "v^ould change the organic laws of a State, 
ought to be prepared to meet hatred, calumny, and violence: for such 
has been the fate of Patriots in all times and in all countries. I pass 
all personal misrepresentations, in silence: if I cannot live them down, 
vain is the attempt to speak them down. 

Objections which have been made against the party with whom I 
have the honor to act, I deem worthy of notice. 

It is urged that the question of slavery and emancipation has been 
once considered, and decided against us, by the people of Kentucky; 
and therefore it is "factious," again, to reopen it. 

Now this objection, if true, has but little weight, coming from Dem- 
ocrats, who have been defeated for twenty years or more in this State: 
yet now we find them arrayed once more under their banners! So does 
it come Avith equally bad grace from the Whigs; who have been in the 
nation, relatively about in the same position, as the Democrats have 
been in the State. 

The objection when stripped of its casuistry, means simply that we 
are in a minority. Now when so many men, even of first distinction, 
are ready to float with the popular tide into office, I regard it as a sub- 
ject of pride, that we stand firm in the advocacy of what we conceive 
lie:^ at the basis of all prosperity and safety to the State. 

But the allegation is untrue. The question of emancipation never 
ha.s been fairly discussed before, or decided upon by, the people of this 
State. The forty men — who met in Frankfort in 1848, all slave-hold- 
t^rs, but still professing to represent all parties in the State, interested 



•-•.^ 



[ 2 ] 

in the convention movement, — declared that so far as they were con- 
cerned, the then relations oi slavery should not ..he disturbed. And 
again "when the legislature met in the winter of tlmt year, a resolution 
v\ns passed that slavery ought not to be discussedy' 

The same position was taken by nearly the/whole Whig and Dem- 
ocratic press. By such weight of authority against us, the emancipa- 
tion convention which met in Frankfort in 1849, was induced to defer 
making the battle upon the merits of their cause; and only contended 
for what is called "the open clause" in the Constitution. So that the 
question of emancipation might be, as suggested by our q^^^nents, de- 
cided seperately from all other influences, upon its merits. And such 
Avas the position taken by the orators upon the stump, and urged every- 
where in private conversation. 

Now when the Constitution is formed, and carried into execution, — 
Avhen parties are narrowed down to the same platform — so nearly, that 
the matter of contest between Whig and Democrat seems to be, wheth- 
er there is really any ditierence in principles — Avhen the public mind is 
calm and ready for just conclusions — and we at last come forward and 
urge emancipation upon just and constitutional grounds — these same 
men, who all along were saying the time had not yet come, now clamor 
that the time has passed — it is too late — the question has been decided 
ao-ainst us! 

No ! with the slave-holders, the time has not, and never will come 
for the consideration of emancipation! If left to them, they would, 
like Sheridan with his creditors, put it off till the day aftei judgment ! 

We, then friends of emancipation and vital republicanism must judge 
for ourselves, of the time, and means of throwing off this institution, 
which "wrongs" the slave, and threatens our own liberty. We are all 
equals — we were born free — and while we allow to our opponents all 
the privileges Avhich we claim for ourselves — we avow our purpose to 
yield to others, none, which we will not fearlessly demand. 

I care nothing for party names, so that they designate principles. — 
The Whigs are called "bank federalists," — the Democrats "locofocos." 
We call oui-selves "Emancipationists," "Liberty and Union men." Our 
enemies call us "Abolitionists." All we ask is the understanding of our 
views upon them^Ave are willing to stand, or to fall ! 

There are in the State of Kentucky, in round numbers, ten hundred 
thousand people. Of these two hunderd thousand are African slaves. 
You all know Avhat slaves are. By the laws of all the slave States, 
they can neither acquire nor hold property, in their own right, "by the 
sweat of the face" or by gift, or devise, or inheritance. To them is de- 
nied the family relation. They know not the name of parent or child — 
husband or wife — sister or brother — they are not secured in "life, lib- 
erty, or property, or the pursuit of happiness." In a Avord they are 
subject in all these, to the Avill of their masters, in mind and in person, 
being as goods and chattels, or beasts of the field ! 

In this 19th century amidst a civilized and christian people, I shall 
not discuss the moral relation of such an institution as this! I ap- 
peal to reason; Avhich is monstrous jargon, if this be just ! To eA^ery 
unsullied conscience; Avhich is quick as a flash of light in revulsion, 
Avhen self is thus threatened ! To the Avorks of nature — when by sea 



\ 



[ 3 ] 

and shore, eucli mute and living thing, ut' minutest insigniticance, has 
allotted it by Providence, an independent sphere of action and happi- 
ness, — that not alone of all animated existences, is the poor African 
merged in the will and happiness of others ! 

Above all, upon that ever to be held sacred and glorious saying, "Do 
unto others as you would have others do unto youi" I rest the question 
of the moral relation of slavery. To reason, to conscience, to nature, 
to God, I will not add the poor weight of my ideas of the right. I 
am not here as a moralist, but a politician; or if I may aspire to the 
higher title, a statesman; and as a statesman, I have discussed, and 
still propose to discuss this subject. 

Next in order are the owners of these two hundred thousand slaves. 
In 1845, they were from the Auditor's books ascertained to be about 
thirty one thousand: say, since then increased to thirty three and a 
third thousand. The actual owners of slaves then in this State are 
only one in every twenty four, including men, women and children of 
the white race. But allow, Avhich is liberal, two persons more to each 
actual slave-holder, for those interested in these slaves, as heirs, or ex- 
pectants by gift or devise, and Ave have only one hundred thousand 
persons ! Take the two hundred thousand slaves and the one hundred 
thousand masters from the ten hundred thousand, and you have remain- 
ing seven hundred thousand persons — seven out of eight of every man, 
woman and child of the white races in this Commonwealth, — "the peo- 
ple," in the language of politicians, — who have no interest in the own- 
ership of these slaves. 

On the contrary, their every interest, social, moral, intellectual and 
physical, are warred upon by the existence of slavery among them. — 
And if I shall succeed in proving that fact — then, where is the repub- 
lican who is not compelled to go Avith me in the overthrow of slavery? — 
For the theory of our institutions is, that the government is formed for 
the benefit — to promote the happiness, prosperity and safety, of the 
great majority of the governed — and that when it fails of these aims, 
then it's not only the right, but the highest duty of the people to relay 
the foundations of the same, for the accomplis-hment of these great ends. 

There is no middle ground — no escape. If I am right, even the 
slave-holders are bound to go with me for emancipation, or to stand, in 
repudiation of the avowals of our fathers, and all republicanism, in fa- 
vor of the Divine right of Kings — of Despotism ! I lay down the 
broad proposition that labor is the subject of first consideration in the 
formation of the constitution and laAvs of a State. Labor is that which 
distinu'uishes man from all other animals. The beasts have reason and 
speech in an inferior degree, but man only is a laborer. And Avhilst 
other animals come into life, in early infancy protected, housed, and 
fed, by an all bountiful Deity, man only for long years, is utterly depen- 
dent for food, shelter, and clothing, upon the labor of those who pre- 
cede him. And so far from reo-ardino- labor as a curse, I see in it above 
all things the favoritism of God. Animals are clothed Avith but a sin- 
gle vestment; their residences or i-ctreats are fixed: their food is eter- 
nally the same. But Ihei-e is no limit to the variety, in comfort, and 
taste, of the human dress. Our dwellings rise from the cabin to the 
palace, in structm-e and oi-naments; Avhilst our food, in variety and del- 



[ 4 ] 

icacy, is only bounded by the wide reach of the human mind, in its 
hold upon science, and the development of the resources of the soil. 

Labor then is an eternal and benificent law of our being. Upon it's 
honor, depends its efficiency; and upon both, depends the numbers, 
the prosperity, and happiness, of civilized society. When then you 
plant slavery in a State, j^ou do that thing which tends most powerful in 
constitutional lavr, to dishonor labor, and render it inefficient. Before 
a man will serve another, with no inducement but the fear of punish- 
ment, the spirit of self respect must be utterly extinguished-— he must 
be degraded below the beasts. And the slave has ever been regarded 
as the basest of men; and the object not only of contempt, but hatred; 
because in yielding up his own liberty, he subtracts so much strength 
from the mass of men, and to that extent endangers the liberty of all 
others! And by a necessary association of ideas, whatever the slave 
touches, has imparted to it something of his own dishonor ! I appeal 
to the experience of men — to those who have been in the free and in 
the slave States. Here all those offices which slaves, in greatest num- 
ber, and most habitually, perform, are avoided, as far as possible by 
the mass of whites, who are compelled to labor. And in kind if not 
in degree, at whatever remove from the slaves' labor is still looked upon 
with diso'ust; and idleness is reo'arded as a bado-e of social elevation. 

John Quincy Adams said lie regarded the profession of the law no 
more honorable than the business of shoe-making. In the eye of rea- 
son, the shoe-blacker is as honorable as the shoe-maker; and if Adams 
be right, as honorable as the lawyer. It is slavery, and slavery only 
in its myriad forms, which degrades the laboi-er! 

When I edited the True American in this city, I found the wives and 
daughters, of the small shop keepers, mechanics and others, who had 
no slaves, up before the rising sun — sweeping out their entries — the 
steps — and pavements — and bringing water from the pumps, before the 
tide of slaves was yet poured into the streets to Avound their senti- 
ments of social equality. Master workmen tell me that the best jour- 
neymen leave the State as soon as they are married ! In the free States 
on the contrary the wife, and daughter, and lover go up-headed to the 
discharge of domestic duties — made more lovely in the eyes of all, by 
the conscious glow of duty performed. The slave-holders and rich 
avoid labor entirely. They are idlers by profession, and drones upon 
society; whilst at a distance, all classes imitate them. Idleness is the 
mother of ruin to the state, and destitution to individuals. There 
are no promises in the book of nature or Revelation for the idler. Its 
career is deformity in person, stupidity in intellect, depravity in morals. 
Its end is poverty and death ! Not less than twenty persons of all ages, 
sexes and colors have come to violent ends in this State, in three months 
in a population (jf one million ! Such a terrible result is the best com- 
mentary upon slavery and its vitiating effects ! 

In the North, every grade in wealth, from the highest to the lowest, 
have suitable employment for their children. In manufactures, in ag- 
riculture, and commerce, as v.'ell as in the learned profession, there is 
room for all: and only the man of business is honored. 

Here the evil of dishonored labor is not confined to us the non-slave- 
holding class, but reaches masters also. The son and daughter can- 



[ - ] 

not by them be put to work along- side of the degraded slave; who is 
of course an unfit associate. The professions are full to starvation. — 
The consequence is, sons and daughters are brought up in idleness and 
effiminacy; mind, body, and estate, go to wreck! Thus slavery like 
th6 fabled shirt of Nessus, which was expected to bring pleasure and 
comfort in the use, but maddens its unhappy possessor at last. 

Unfortunately for the laborers, the evils of slavery are not confined 
to mere sentiments or association of ideas, but they come home to every 
one, whether in the field or in the work-shop, and ruin him by the 
competition of unpaid wages ! This is proved by the retardation or ex- 
pulsion of the whites in all slave-states. By the census of the United 
States, the whole population doubles in about every twenty-five years. 
Take the previous censuses of the people of Kentucky and you will find 
that we ouoht in 1851 to have had tAvo millions, instead of eio-h hun- 
dred thousand whites. Our sister State of Ohio, of about the same 
area of land — with longer winters — less fertile soil, and mineral 
wealth, — although our junior by many years — has her two millions of 
people. Slavery then has expelled one million people from the State 1 

I do not now consider the amount of human suffering, which this 
curse has caused ! For if happiness depends mostly, not upon abso- 
lute, but relative, wealth — and the man is happiest, who is steadily im- 
proving his condition — who can estimate the misery of the million of 
people, continually decreasing in means, till at last, they see their 
homes pass into the hands of strangers, and themselves driven into 
exile — a punishment in all governments deemed sufficient for the 
greatest of crimes ! I choose to regard it merely as a matter of dollars 
and cents — and as labor is the admited source of all wealth, we have 
lost one half of our productive power — one million of laborers have 
gone, one remains. If we regard man as a productive machine simply, 
the white valued no higher than the slave, at an average of three hun- 
dred dollars, — we have lost a possibly productive power or capital of 
three hundred million of dollars ! This is not all, we have placed two 
hundred thousand African slaves in the place of the same number of 
white freemen. Now our fathers of the south when the Federal Con- 
stitution was formed contended, no doubt truly, that the slave was on- 
ly half as productive as the white, and that therefore in taxation, two 
slaves ought to be counted as but one white. 

This is good authority at least against our opponents. In the sub- 
stitution of slaves for freemen, then, we have placed one hundred thou- 
sand paupers in the State; for whilst as machines they are fed, clothed 
and sheltered, at the same cost as whites, only producing half as much 
— it is as if one hundred thousand, were supported out of the aggregate 
wealth, from the bone and sinew, and the sweat of the face, of ihe 
great mass of laborers, black and white ! And every two slaves im- 
ported into the State, (for the slave holders subject us to that also) and 
every two born, impose an additional pauper upon us ! Again, these 
emigrants have taken out more or less of the money of the country, — 
say three hundred dollars each, — and we have lost three hundred mil- 
lions more of the actual accumulated capital of the country — as much 
as all the balance of the wealth real and personal, as shown by the cen- 
sus ! 



[ <' ] 

But the same causes which retard population, hinder education. In 
the free States, sixteen times, have common school funds been provided 
by general taxation; so as to bring- edvication into the home of the poor- 
est citizens. And as a consequence, not one man, woman-or child, (if 
you exclude immigrants from the slave States and foreign countries, ) in 
a thousand, can be found unable to read their laws and bible. But in all 
the slave States, the system of common schools have failed, from the 
beginning. Govei'nor Hammond in his message to the South Carolina 
legislature, says that "education and slavery are incompatible," and 
therefore as he was for .slavery, he opposed education among the peo- 
ple ! It seems the people of Kentucky have been ruled by the same 
sort of slave-holders. Three times has a common school fund been 
provided by the people, and three times have our masters concluded that 
"education and slavery were incompatible," and diverted the funds to 
their own purposes. First, you set aside the proceeds of the sales of 
the lands west of the Tennesee river for schools; but they 
were appropriated by the slave-holders to other piirposes. Again, you 
gave the devidends of the State in the Commonwealth's Bankto schools; 
but again, they were diverted to other purposes. Once more, and the 
third time, you solemnly set aside eight hundred and iifty thousand dol- 
lars, one half of the sum received from the proceeds of the public lands 
of the United States, to assist in the education of the people; but once 
more and for the third time, the defenders of the "peculiar institution" 
sunk the whole sum. in physical improvements. And whilst New York 
expends three hundred thousand dollars yearly in the education of her 
sons and daughters, the great State of Kentucky has not a cent in the 
treasury for the same glorious purpose. Our masters not only wasted 
the money, but they burned the bonds, the evidences of the debt, in 
the streets of the capitol, as if they were cast oft" cholera clothes, 
bringing disease and death upon the people ! And now when the 
friends of education and liberty, have aroused the public to these in- 
famies, and caused the legislators to -restore the bonds — and Avhen the 
Democratic Convention, to their eternal honor have put it in the Cons- 
titution that the sinking fund shall be held sacred for their payment, — 
we find a contest going on between the friends of education, and a 
slave-holding governor, whether these benificent ends shall be accomp- 
lished or not ! 

In the free States the children of the rich and the poor, are educated 
in the same school; and the division of farms and the density of the 
population insure always a sufficient number of scholars, to bring down 
the cost of education to the most economical rate. But here we not 
only lack a common school fund to lighten individual expense, but the 
co-operation and joint means of the rich, and the laborers. 

We are not only frequently prevented from making a school at all, 
on account of the large farms and slave-holders, but when the slave-hold- 
ers send their children to county academies, or distant cities, as they 
do, in nine cases of ten, the expense is increased to those who remain. 
And the grand result is, that, whilst in the free States nearly the whole 
mass of native born citizens are educated, here, in all the slave States, 
the cost of education is about three times as great as in the free States; 
and in all the slave States of the Union, more than one half of all the 
laborers white and black, are unable to read and write! 



[ 7 ] 

Here the educated are drones in society, consuming witiiout pro- 
ducing; whilst the great mass of laborers are deprived of the aids of 
letters and science in production. Of course we fail in manufactures; 
and without manufactures, commerce also fails. Thus whilst the south 
takes hold of three and one half millions of slaves, as producers only 
equal to one and three quarter millions of men — the north far wiser 
lays hold on the winds, the waters, and chemistry, and magnetism, and 
the powers of science, and enslaves them. I estimate the power of 
machinery in the free States to be equal to the labor of forty millions of 
men.* The free States then have "the long end of the handspike," 
and hold us in lasting dependence, as simple agriculturists, — a third 
rate stage of civilization. We stand as the tribes of Asia, three thou- 
sand years ago; and many of our most sensible farmers return to graz- 
ing, as the best way of preserving lands from the ruin of slave cultiva- 
tion ! 

These disadvantages of slavery are common to the whole people. — 
What we the non-slave holders lose, is not gained by the masters. 
For by directing the whole power of the State to agriculture, they tend 
to glut all those markets, where our mules, horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, 
hemp, and tobacco, go. So that the tendency of jjrices is always to- 
wards the lowest profit above the cost of production; and frequently 
the sales are under the cost, and the gains of many years lost in one 
unfortunate market. 

These arguments are addressed alike to all — but I stand here as the 
advocate of the non-slave holders of the country; and them I would 
reach in a manner more practical and of less generalization. 

I pi'opose to show to them, how it is, that this million of citizens have 
been expelled from the soil by inevitable and inexorable laws. In the 
free States, a man upon fifty, eighty, and one hundred acres, (which 
last perhaps is the average of all the farms in all the free States,) can 
raise, educate, and settle in life, a large family ! Why ? Because he 
has his manufacturer and merchant set down along side of him. He 
sells every thing: nothing is lost: "many mickles make a muckil" 
says the Scottish maxim. But here in the slave States, in consequence 
of all our markets being distant markets, Charleston, New Orleans, 
Cincinnati, or New York, and through them the great world, we lose 
all the "odds and ends," v/liich are saved in the free States. But the 
main loss is in the main articles of production, and return consumption. 
For instance, the citizen of Fayette sends a pound of beef to the city 
of New York; there it is sold for six cents; but three cents comes off 
for cost of transportaiton — the nett proceeds are therefore three cents a 
pound. But the farmer living along side of New York, sells also for six 
cents; but that is the nett profit; as he has no outlay in going to mar- 
ket. He sells therefore for twice as much as we. Of course if he can 
live upon one hundred, Ave must have two hundred aci-es. Again, the 
articles which he gets in exchange cost him near one hundred per 
cent less than us; or one half of our income is lost in consequence of 



* This is the estimate made about ten years ago of the power of machinery in 
Enfj;laiul. If wctakc into consideration the machinery or instruments applied to 
aj^ricLiltiu-c the estimate must be below the reality! 



[ « ] 

the distance of our articles of consumption. If then the free farmer 
can Uve upon one hundred acres, we must have four hundred ! Any 
one can well see then, that, if we must have four times as much land 
to live here, as there, we must of necessity emigrate. But a home mar- 
ket can afford manures: and high price, and personal supervision, en- 
courage "high farming," and the lands are continually improving. — 
Freedom gives education, education gives science in cultivation, and 
increased product — more leisure — more science, — and more population. 
But in the slave State the "shinninji system" prevails — large farms 
are necessary in consequence of distance of markets — large farms can- 
not undergo the manuring system; the virgin soil of centuries exhaust- 
ed in deposite, are worn out in slovenly, ignorant cultivation. In Vir- 
ginia and Maryland, and North Carolina, Avere good plains, and fer- 
tile slopes, but slaves have turned them into barrenness. The whites 
emiErrated — drove out the Avild beasts and Indians — cleared the forest; 
but once more the tide of slaves follows on; the result is the same. — 
Barrenness follows in the wake of the slave. The broom sedge, the 
mullen, and the briar, pursue ever in their footsteps ! Are not those, 
who have desolated Judea and Asia Minor, and turned her cities and 
fertile vales into the abodes of wild beasts — where "the fox looks out 
at the windoAv, and the long grass grows upon the walls!" — as crimi- 
nal in the eyes of Nature's God, as they who stoned the prophets, and 
rejected him, who taught justice, mercy, and love ! 

In the midst of these depressing causes, the laborer finds yet great- 
er oppression; the direct competition of capital. In the free States, 
when the capitalist has one or two hundred acres he wants no more 
land. He says to his neighbor, who is educated in the common school, 
industrious, and moral, I have a thousand, or five thousand dollars, 
take it and invest it in manufactures or commerce; divide a portion of 
the profits with yourself, for your personal supervision, and the other 
portion with me for my capital. Thus capital and labor are friends, 
and build up each other. And the whole mass of society is moving 
up to independence and wealth. But here the slave-holding capitalist 
is the worst enemy of the laborer. He cannot invest his money in 
machinery, or commerce, : he gives no employment to white labor. — 
He comes then into the land market, where only the whites can hope to 
live, and be invests his money at no matter what price. The conse- 
quence is that land has not only a real value, and price, but a ficticious 
or fancy value. The estimate of the most intelligent is that the lands 
in the slave States do not any thing like average three per cent on their 
cost. If the laborer then bids for the land on credit, he gives six per 
cent upon the investment; of course it is a losing business; and at last 
he is compelled to sell out; and the land falls into the hands of the cap- 
italist ! Thus we find in almost every county, one, two, and as high as 
fifteen and twenty farms, once occupied by intelligent whites families, 
now in the possession of the master and slaves. The census of 1850 
shows in many counties not only the loss of the whole increase, which 
is one hundred per cent in twenty five years, but an iibsolute decrease 
since 1840 in population! 

The towns are subject to the same laws of depression as the coun- 
try: and neither in the field or the workshop, is there any escape from 



[ « ] 

the ruin of slave labor cuinpetition ! There are two great dfita, upon 
which the growth of cities depends the number of consumers, and their 
productive and consequently consumptive capacity. For they are but 
the aggregation, for convinience of society and exchange, of all those 
persons, who expect to give the product of their intellects or hands for 
the fruits of the soil. A hatter sells to the twenty thousand people of 
the county of Fayette, one hundred hats a year; under the free system, 
when the population shall have increased to forty thousand, he will sell 
two hundred hats. At the same time his real estate advances in value 
as the increase of population. He is a thriving mechanic — he can not 
only educate his children, but set them up in the same trade with him- 
self. The father sells to the fathers of the country, and his sons to 
their sons — and what applies to the hatter, applies to every resident of 
a city; so that there is no limit to the population of the city or country, 
until such time as the earth shall cease to sustain the inhabitants. And 
by manufactories, Massachusetts, England, and some other coun- 
tries, sustain a higher population than their soil by agriculture 
could possibly support. Now reverse the case, let slavery be introduced 
and immediately as I have shown, two laws begins to prevail: the 
whole population white and black begin to decrease, and the produc- 
tive power of the black is only half that of the white. The result is 
that the hatter, who at first sold one hundred hats, in the coui-se of these 
events, now sells but fifty; he is a decaying tradesman. Just at the 
time that he needs more money for the education and settlement of his 
children, he has less than in early life — the profits of his trade contin- 
ually decline, whilst his real estate declines also — till at last he is com- 
pelled "to pull up stakes" to use a common phrase, and move to the 
free States, where his consumers from the country have gone before him! 
And this reasoning is sustained by experience. Norfork, in Virginia, 
was once the emporium of Eastern Commerce, but slaves have driven 
out her whites; ignorance and sloth have exhausted her lands; manu- 
factures fail; and commerce fails with them. Now Norfork is forgotten, 
and New York, and Philadelphia and Boston, are great cities; and the 
sails of their commerce whiten every sea. The Virginia Republican, 
says "a little more than eighty years ago the imports of Virginia 
amounted to four millions; those of New York to nine hundred thou- 
sand; in eighteen hundred and forty nine, the imports of Virginia were 
two hundred and forty thou^ani, and those of New York were ninet}'- two 
millions." That is, the difference in the race, in less than a century, all 
the natural advantages beinof in favor of slaverv, between a free and 
slave State, is about sixteen hundred times in favor of freedom ! Cities 
in slave States with the first tide of white population grovi^ to a certain 
extent of magnificence; when the slaves come in, they become station- 
ary—then begin to decline. Chimneys topple off, and go unrepaired — 
underpinnings decay — houses go unpainted — abutters fall to pieces — 
lights are broken otit, and old cloths and pasted piper are sub^ititured — 
all things indicate, that the city is constitutionally diseased with slavery, 
and hastens to its end ! 

There was a time when there wereintrenchments, where the mechan- 
ic was secure against the machinery of the free States and the compe- 
tition of slave labor, in the handicraft-: fo b« done on the soil. But 



[ 10 ] 

now slaves have intruded themselves into all these, and the competition 
tends continually to reduce the white mechanic to the wages of the slave 
— the simplest food, clothing, and shelter, without education or any of 
the elegancies of life ! Pententiary labor is remonstrated against in all 
parts of the Union, by the whites, when applied to such manufactures 
as are carried on in the neighborhood, as utterly destroying their liveli- 
hood. Yet slave labor to the seven hundred thousand free white labor- 
ers of Kentucky, is penitentiary labor; the master standing in the same 
relation to the slave, that the agent of the State does towards the con- 
victs ! The wages paid in both cases are the same: the result the same; 
ruin to the free laborer! The newspaper press denounce me as insult- 
ing the mechanics, in demonstrting these facts ! The truth is not de- 
nied. On the contrary, the Virginia papers and the Georgia press an- 
nounce that associations of mechanics in both States have issued a pub- 
lic protest against the education of slaves in the various trades; be- 
cause it "degrades labor and reduces their wages!" Our opponents 
have not and cannot meet the argument; on the contrary they insult us, 
with the Louisville Chronicle, by the avowal that slave and free labor can- 
notcoexist; that either the blacksor the whites must give way ! The slave 
holders have made up their minds to our ruin and expulsion from the 
State ! What say you freemen of Kentucky shall the black or white 
race inhabit this lovely land ? 

Those who would not as the Louisville Chronicle defy us, attempt to 
delude us by our prejudices, and assert that if the slaves wei-e gone, 
the Dutch, the French, and the Irish, would overrun the land, and un- 
derwork and minus; and that they greatly perfer the African to those 
races ! 

I entertain no prejudices against these foreigners. Leaving a land 
of tyrany they seek a home among us, because we are republicans. I 
give them the right hand of fellowship. I welcome them as freemen, 
and equals, in a land of freedom and equality. Yes these are the men 
who have built up, in a great measure, tJiese States: they bring labor- 
ers, some money, and above all the arts and sciences as applicable to 
the development of the elements of nature. The Dutch, the Irish, and 
French, have made Cincinnati what she is, equal to the old cities of the 
East in manufactures and commerce. But who are they who declaim 
against these i-aces ? They are in a few removes, bone of their bone, 
and flesh of their flesh. And if we have more versatility of talent, 
symetry of form, and play and loveliness of the face divine, than other 
nations, it is because of this same admixture of blood. 

But what does this argument, when analized, mean ? There is no 
Chinese wall or bands of soldiers surrounding us, to keep out these 
foreigners; what is it so terrible that the starving and diseased "Dutch, 
and Irish, and French," crushed by despotism, in other lands, cannot 
stand it ? It is slavery ! And what these miserable men cannot and 
will not bear, we the loboring native citizens of this State have to bear, 
and do bear ! 

Again we are told, we don't want cities, nor manufactures, nor com- 
merce. Well the slave holders, perhaps, content with their position, do 
not: but every sensible man, every patriot does. Cities are but the ex- 
ponents or indices of the property of a country. And manufactures 



/ 



[ 1' ] 

aud commerce are equal sources of wealth with agriculture. The truth 
is we fail even in that, of which we boast; for in agriculture the south 
fall behind the North. The South has better lands and more, better 
climates, and tropical productions, which are a monopoly; yet by the 
census of 1840, the value of all of the products of the South were three 
hundred and twelve millions; those of the North three hundred and 
forty-two millions. Thus the free States in agriculture in 1839, pro- 
duced thirty millions more than the slave States ! The census of 1850 
will when footed up, show no doubt an increase in the products of the 
free States, above that of the slave States ! In the whole category of 
physical developments then the free excel the slave States. 

No, there is no compensation for the evils of slavery, none, none 
whatever. It depresses us in the scale of social rank, deprives us of 
education, machinery, manufactures, and commerce, — impoverishes us 
by the competition of slave labor,— drives us into the poor lands; into 
the brushwood and the mountains; or else exiles ixs from the home of 
our nativity ! We can now understand what the slave-holders mean 
by slavery, "dying out of itself," — "becoming extinct by the natural 
law of competition of labor !" It means that we will become more and 
more pressed by this institution, in the means of living, till such time in 
the course of human events, when population shall become dense and 
filled up, to the far Pacific, and there is no longer room for emigration 
west or to the free States, we will have to stand our ground — till when 
our wives and children, like poor Ireland, cry for bread, we will come 
to the slave-holder, and say — we have more intellect and facility of 
muscle than the African, we pray you give us the same wages, food, 
shelter, and clothing, and we will do you more work ! Then the master 
forgetting the ties of the "patriarchial institution" will say to the slave 
be free, go and take care of yourself, I can do better without you ! That 
is what is meant by slavery, "dying out of itself." It means reducing 
us below the slavery of the blacks !* For one I am not ready for it, for 
elf defence is the first law of nature ! 

I think I have made out my case, that slavery wars upon the inter- 
ests of the non-slave holders of the State, the great majority of the 
people; and therefore ought to be overthrown ! Still we are no abo- 
litionists, in the technical sense of the word. And whilst I have ever, 
and now advocate the immediate voluntary emancipation of the slaves 
as right and expedient; for I avow my eternal faith that what is 
right is always expedient in individuals and States; still as a statesman, 
proposing the abolition of slavery, I have ever recognized the legal 
right of the master to his slave. I hold that, in a republic, v/here the 
will of the majority prevails, the law is omnipotent, and the good con- 
science and obedience to "the higher law" requires us only to use 
every honorable and constitutional means for the overthrow of an un- 
just and immoral statute. That resistance to law is not sufi'erable in 



*Henry Clay in aletter to Thos. Hankey, jr , of London dated May lOth, 1851, 
says: "My own opinion, long and deliberately entertained, is that they ^^the 
blacks) are held in slavery for the purpose of a necessary supply of labor. Slavery 

WILL CEA9E, WHENEVEE BT THE IXCUKASE OF THE WHITE POPDLATIOV, FRKT: WHTTF. LA- 
BOR CAV BE PROCt'Rtn, CUEAPf.R THAX THAT OF THE BI.VCKft!" 



'■i 



I '■■ I 

(M)ini-ii'iiO(<, i'M<('|i( III (ix(r«'iiu> otu'tvi; wlicic lln^ iiulix iiliiiil |i«m Umn (n 
Ik'mi tilt' iKMDvllv of n'f<iHUmoi> to llH'WiliJe <»r olttMli('ni'(\ or \vlii'n< {Uoyo 
i,'i lio|it> III htUloi' liinort, in Muooor^^lul i'«>voluiioii ii^tuuNl. wron^'. We 
nfipi'iM. ll\«> ri).'.hlM ol' ultivo lioldci'M (l\or(*t'oi'o, Aiitl ii\!iimiii'li us wo 
hiivo i\o( llii< nioiuiM nl' lilioiMlino; llio proMonl mImvos liy imiicIimsc; miuI 
«.!* il. \v I'll 111 li.' \c'i mi>i.> ui\|um|. Ui|m\ (III' mm -.liivo lioltlors, wlix Imvo 
.'tlrtnuh MilliMoil ;>o imii'li iVoiu (Ium iiutliliiliou. lo luiy llio nIiimvi, iiiul 
oolont.-.o (lioni. wo iiui-ii lioju' in (lie liilui'o. iim wi> litivo \\\ ilio pasl, with 
tho two luiiulioil (liouM.'inil oxisliuj^; nIuvoh. I»>ii wiili iov,.'ii.l h> iho »«- 
f>m'H, I woiilil i>ii(. in Iho vn>uMliliilion. thnl. iil'lor (ho yoiu liiiio. oronrli 
or If poHMihlo. !ill poMoiiH whall ho lVoi>, In ihifi i'Dl^IiI ol llio Siiid^o 
i'omil;iii> (III' I'li'iirt' I'ol.'itionH of Iho nnhoui. I ;\m NU.sliiinoil li\ (ho lnj.>,h 
tint iindioulv, will!.', iiuil ih'iiuxM'iUio, 111 Kill iMvii Stak<; iiv (lio (>\,'in\|ilo ol' 
iMoniuoluoH Mini io|iiihliO'i. vil'olhoi' hiiuls; .Mini hy lln' |UinMn'o o( lh«> iVoo 
SUilo.-i ol iho Norlh, lull 1 ilo not ohoovi(> (o .slaml n|ioii anlhoiUy . I 
«.n» willing Ul OOino lo (ho j.;i>>iiinl ol llio mUHlors. llnU diry hav.' (lie 
Hnuio rin'hl in iho unl>orn of (h«>ir .shivos, whioh llioy luivo m (lion m 
ovotiso \A' ihoir oMltlo mill hovftoM; islill w«Mh» tluun no injtiNliot*. hul itluoo 
Ihoin U|ion llio saino Iimmim wilh uhi'moIvos. in onr in'oporly. Tho oon«- 
(iliKion m\», no man''. [ilHiporly Hhwll ho Itlkon lor jMihho nso willioiil 
(lavni^' him an oniiivalonC yol if M rail road or a canal is nm lhiou}.;h 
tho luriu of (ii(> lahovor. Iwoh o mon aio oalhnl as ajnry; ami (hoy aro 
luii upon ill. ir ('in\soitM\ooM; ami il ili<\ (loninniio (hal ilio i'id|>rioliOr is 
ornolitloil nioio hy (In^ i^'oiioi'al mlvanlaj^os ol itu^ loail or i-aiial. (hanho 
if* tniniVil hy (In' spooilio in'oporiy lost, ihoy do iioi |>a\ liini a vonl tlam 
t\^x^H\ Thtifis th«' law »>l Iho laml, Now I »nininon ilio g«v»(, povipio 
ot" Koninoky «s a jui\v; tuul I pui ihom npon dun oonsoiom'os; and 
sMv, if wo oiu\not tnako ont *nn' oas(>. (ha( iho slivo hohlor will ho moro 
honolillod hy (ho oinamMpallon of (ho \»nhorn. (han ho wonKl ho iiijuunl 
hy Uw *i\\\\v, ihon wo lost* vuu" ow,s«-»-\vo ask fhoin h> \o\o against, us. 
I'havo o\amino»l my own cM'nsoionoo; ami I ihink if I know mysolf. I 
wonlil n»»( injnio n(y noij^hhvu" a o<n\l, if ii w.miKI {UK (hon-.amls m my 
owi\ pookol; Hiul I »n>(» iVt'oly VA>(t> Iho law. holioviiu*' Ihrtt lln^ shwo hoi 
«lor WMmhl ho inliniloly holloro*! hy lln' ohattj^'o. Uoi^' ihon is a I'lan o( 
tMnanoipalion. lhai> is oonstilniional ami loj^al. jns(. ami in aooi>r>lam-o 
wdh (ho laws K\( na(u(v. ami l\.o|nihlioanisn\. ri><hl i"oason. ami an on 
Uji^hlonod oonsi\|o,noO, UoUlS J»np|>OS<Mhon suoh a law iiis,m(o.1. hy an 
»M">«aniflo>l ami jvnHlominonl party, hy a oall of ;v oonvonlion. m dio oon 
*(iluliun of (ho kSialo; (ha( afioi' iho yoar ll»00. all poisons horn horo 
whaU l>» fi-tv^,— 'Whai wvniM ho (ho ivsuU.V At ouoo all wonhl ho^m (o 
ovMiform (u (ho now slalo of ihinj^s. Thoso slavo hohlois who pmioi (o 
hvihl on (o (ho slavos. wvuthl nn>vo in(v> ro,\as. ami odu'V n»vn^> sontluMn 
kSlalos; whoro slavory l\as a piH>spooA> of hnviyfor oxisloi\oo, Thoso no 
douhu w»>uhl (ako oui a (uajodty of iho oxisiinjtf slavos. Tho ov>nili 
lion *>f (ho slavo wonhl nv>(> Ko \v»n\sio(l; and ones Wonhl ho hodonuh— 
Thon (hoco mv a lacgo poriion of (ho slavo hoKlois win* aro on\;»noiim' 
Uunlst*. i flttw «ot fvuMvhat I'^tti^vMvs ihoy aiv vso, Whoihor. Uko As- 
(or. (hov (hink "whal a gwivt Sialo Konmoky would l>o if sho only had 
(ho monoy lor hoc slavos." or liko IVrkins "whai a ^Toal 8la(o Koninoky 
would bo" if »ho onlv was lihomiovl fi\nn hov slavtvs" or who(l\or tliey 
Mitnt^d \vi(h mt>. iKal )ibor(V in bost for (ho hlaok. ami ho-i( for th.- 



[ 13 ] 

white — there are about one fouth of all the slave holders in the State 
emancipationists. They constitute a large portion of the talent, the 
moral, and religious worth, of that class, and own one forth or more of 
the slaves. They are unwilling to make a sacrifice of, or live without, 
slave labor, in a slave State; but give them the general advan- 
tages of freedom, and they avow themselves ready to transfer their 
slaves from Kentucky soil without aid from the State, or tax upon any 
one. Thus another large portion of slaves would be remov- 
ed. And the facilities of colonization are every day increased, by 
the commerce of Independent Liberia — by the proposed building, by 
the National Government, of three large war steamers, to ply between 
the United States and Africa: and above all by Great Britain's opening 
Jamaica to the colonization of the free blacks, where they will at once 
be received upon terms of equality with other British subjects; and 
without any necessity of an outfit, given fair wages, in the sugar and 
coffee cultivation. 

We have then-^f minority of the existing slaves left upon the soil, in 
possession of those who choose from age or habit to hold on to that 
species of labor, during the life of the slaves. At their death, we 
should only have those born of that minority; whose numbers would be 
inappreciable amid the great white masses. 

For this law prevails with the liberated slaves, that they do not in- 
crease as fast in a State of freedom among the whites, as in a State of 
slavery. And whilst in slavery they upon the same base increase fast- 
er than, and gain upon, the whites; in freedom, in turn, the whites gain 
upon them. So that at last, without other "plan," the unity of the 
white race upon Kentucky soil would be accomplished: or else but few 
of the black race of the best quality would remain, inappreciable in num- 
ber among the masses of the whites. 

The law of nature and of God says, the idler, the vicious, the intem- 
perate, the thriftless, and his offspring, shall go to the wall. But the 
slave holder says no ! The virtuous, and the vicious, shall fare alike; 
there shall with the slaves be no distinction between good and evil. We 
take from the good, and give to the bad; they, their children, shall live! 
The vicious live on, and increase, society is not purged; the diseased 
parts slough not off; the race of fiends increases, until such time as 
great convulsions of blood and terror vindicate the truth, that His arm, 
who has made death the penalty of sin, is not shortened ! but that at 
last He will repay ! 

I avoid the imputation of ultraism. I propose, if any one shall not 
like my plan, to give in the constitution, the legislature full power over 
the whole subject. I only take the first steps, which must be taken by 
those who move at all from the perpetualists; the door must be passed 
from slavery to freedom. Indeed it would be unwise to urge a compli- 
cated plan. We would open our flanks to the assaults of our enemies; 
and waste that power, which should be concentrated upon the single 
issue of persuading the people to be willing to make the State free, up- 
on useless differences of opinion among ourselves, about the details. — 
For "wherever there is a will, there is a way." And any plan, now 
put into the constitution, would subject us to the possible necessity of 
again calling a convention, and subjecting that plan to the changes of 



[ 14 ] 

time and events. The "waiters upon Providence," and those conside- 
rate emancipationists who want immediate office from the slave party, 
will be against us — but the good, the great, the free, will "never give 
up the ship." 

I have taken a cursory view of the subject; I do not flatter myself 
that I have exhausted the argument, but I trust I have said enough to 
suggest such train of thought as will lead every disinterested mind to 
the conclusion that slavery is "a wrong to the slave" an evil to all, and 
must end. 

But there is one issue of more importance than any; than all con- 
siderations together, which I have suggested. It is, whether we our- 
selves shall be freemen or slaves ! Yes, disguise it as we may, slavery 
and liberty cannot coexist; one or the other must ultimately and utter- 
ly triumph ! Our fathers of '76 knew full well this issue; and whilst 
they died hopeful of republicanism in all other respects, in this they 
went down into thier graves full of fearful anticipations and despair. — 
They knew that slavery and liberty could not live together — that one 
must die ! Such were the avowals of Washington, Jetferson, Madison, 
Henry, Adams, Sherman, and Franklin, and almost all those patriots 
who risked life, propertj'- and liberty that we might be free. So great 
were their aspirations for the extinction of slavery, that the word slave 
was not put into the constitution of '89: because as Madison tells us, in 
his report of the debates of the federal convention, when this institution 
shall have perished — they wished its memory to perish from the memo- 
ry of men forever. But how have those avowals and aspirations, the 
only sacred and inviolable "compromises" of the constitution, been re- 
deemed ! The six slave States, then south of Mason's and Dixon's line, 
have increased to fifteen. The great republic has been changed from 
an angel of light and liberty, into a demon of slavery propogandism. J. 
Q. Adams has truly said "the preservation, extension, and perpetua- 
tion of slavery has become the ruling spirit of the National Government." 

The slave-holders banded together by a common property and des- 
potic power, have usurped entire control of the government. Parties are 
formed, Presidents made, and the spoils of office distributed to those 
only, who bow the supple hinges of the knee to the slave power. — 
There is no room for free, bold and manly spirits in this republic. — 
As much as I hate slavery because of its wrongs to the black, I hate it 
more, because it will not allow men to live on this continent ! Because 
it will not allow law; because it will not allow constitutions; because it 
will not allow republicanism. Because it is the most hateful of despo- 
tisms to all — the slave, and the nominally free ! One of the princi- 
pal reasons, why our fathers arose in arms and threw off by a seven 
years war the tyrany of England, was, because whenever there was an 
office of honor or profit in the land, or naval or civil service to be filled, here 
came the nobles, or younger sons of the aristocratic minority of the 
monarchy, to the exclusion of such men as Washington, Adams, Frank- 
lin, and Jefferson ! 

What have we gained, if we must still be the slaves of a negro aris- 
tocracy ! Who are your Presidenos, your senators, your congressmen, 
your speakers of the House of representatives from the south ? Who 
are found living upon the treasury in the land and sea service? Who 



[ 15 ] 

are your foreign ambassadors? Who live upon the pubhc crib at home 
and abroad? Slave holders, or their servile dependents north and south! 
Every governor of this commonwealth from the beginning has been a 
slaveholder! And now when I, one of the people, for the first time 
aspire to that office, the press denounce me, as little less than treason- 
able ! Yes, your congressmen have been, and all now are slave hold- 
ers! So are your judges, and other most eminent officers. In 1848 in 
virtue of the progression of free principles, you called a convention to 
reconstruct the foundations of your constitution. And here were seven 
hundred thousand freemen on our side, and one hundred thousand 
slave holders on the other; and by the concentration of power which 
slavery, like a free masonic sign, gives to those possessors of despotic 
power, they elected every one of their cast to that body. Yes, you 
had not a single representative in that convention. And when argu- 
ment, and money, and terror, failed — the bowie-knife and pistol were 
used to suppress the aspirations of the free, and put down the defen- 
ders of the liberties of the people ! And in convention they treated us 
as a conquered people, as we were ! They attempted to limit the right 
of sufi'rage, and succeeded in part. They denied us the power of the 
ballot; and insulted us with the avowal, that, they intended to stand 
over us at the polls, and compel our suffrages by the terror of proscrip- 
tion! If we are entitled to vote at all — if it is a sacred and inviolable 
right of freemen — then we have a right to its full, free, and im- 
partial use, without fear or favor. Yet, that slavery may live 
these inestimable rights, by corruption, bribery, and proscription, 
must perish ! These are the equal I'ights and liberties which we 
were called upon to defend in 1846! Yes, then it was discovered 
that there were some other persons in the State besides the masters 
and slaves ! Yes, then we were the people — the bone and sinew of the 
land ! Well we were deluded into the ranks; we bore the brunt of hard- 
ship and fatigue; receiving eight dollars a month, the same that the aris- 
tocracy received per day in the shades of the National palace, and we 
fell in battle in the post of peril; we perished by thousands; we were 
thrown together as beasts into trenches with no stone to mark the place 
of our resting! But when an office of honor and profit was to be filled, in 
the comissary or quartermasters Department — when a major or a lieu- 
tenant colonel, or a colonel, or a major, or brigadier general were to be 
appointed — then, in every instance, so far as my knowledge goes, they 
were slave holders ! And when they too fell, no more gloriously than 
we, their remains were brought home at the expense of the State ! And 
the monument of marble which overlooks the capitol, inscribed with their 
names, draws in death as well as in life the undying distinction between 
the slave holding aristocracy, and the people of this commonwealth ! 

There is even carried to the statute book this distinction of casts — 
one measure of justice for the slave holder, and another for the non-slave 
holder. If the horse of the laborer known to be vicious, injures the 
person or property of the slave holder, he sues him, and causes him to 
make remuneration. But if the property — the slave of the slave hold- 
er, — admitted by the most solemn avowals of themselves to be a vicious an- 
imal, destroys the life or property of the laborer, he is not repaid a cent: 
but on the contrarv, if the slave is executed for the offeuoe, the widoxr 



[ 16 ] 

and orphans, if the head of the family is slain, are taxed, in addition 
to their present loss, yet more, to remunerate the slaveholder, who has 
been obstinately the cause of their ruin ! So, also as in the State, is it 
in the national statute booki If the horse of the laborer escape into 
other States, he must return him at his own expense; but if the slave 
escape into other States, and it is necessary to guard him back, the great 
mass of the people have to be the guard and to pay the expense. The 
slave holders have a right to the "delivery" of their slaves; but I have 
ever, and ever will deny their right to make me a slave-catcher, or to 
tax me to restore their losses. The very thing that is done in this "fugi- 
tive slave bill" was refused to be allowed in the United States constitu- 
tion by our fathers. Because said they, it would be taxing them; and 
making them responsible for slavery; which responsibility they would 
never consent to assume, but left it with the States, where it of right be- 
longs. That law is not only unconstitutional, but it violates all the prin- 
ciples of justice and enlightened jurisprudence; and jeopordises the 
liberty of every freeman in the States. The day that the American peo- 
ple shall deliberately acquiesce in it, they will have fallen below, in the 
scale of liberty, every limited monarchy in Christendom. 

Have not the States already done enough, and more than enough for 
the "peculiar institution?" Is it not satisfied with its supremacy? Is 
it not sufficient that we have made three wars for its security, and tax- 
ed ourselves three hundred and fifty millions of dollars — and lost forty 
thousand lives in its defence, and extension, and perpetuation? Have 
not our embassadors degraded us in the eyes of the free, all over the- 
earth, by the avowals which Ave have repeatedly made, that we could 
not allow the existence of Republics on our southern border, "because 
it would endanger the institutions of the south?" 

Have not the most solemn treaties with Spain and Mexico been vio- 
lated by a slave-holding administration, by marching our troops into 
their territory, without a declaration of war — acts which even barba- 
rious nations for the last two thousand centuries have scorned to do? 
Does not the United States constitution give the war power solely to 
Congress? How dare a slave-holding president to enact this gro.ss usur- 
pation? What caused Georgia to defy the national government, and 
oppress an Indian nation, under our most sacred protection? Where in 
the slave States is the freedom of speech and the press secure — those 
constitutional rights, and only safe-guards of liberty? Who are they 
who sell a free citizen of these States into slavery, because he dare ven- 
ture, under the eegis of the national constitution, which declares; "The 
citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immuni- 
ties of citizens in the several States," — into the bounds of the "pecu- 
liar institution?" Who by "the common law of slavery" refuse re- 
dress for these atrocities in the courts of justice and add insult to injury 
by cowardly violence against grey headed age, and the loveliness and 
helplessness of womanhood ? Who violate the sacredness of the na- 
tional power, in the plundering of the United States mails? Who pur- 
sue every free spirit with more than Austrian vigilance and despotism, 
searching persons, and trunks, and breaking open private letters, and 
violating even unto death the persons of all, who dare deny that the dec- 
laration of Independence is a lie? 



[ 17 ] 

Who, — declaring that, territory which comes in slave, shaii remam 
slave — but that which comes in free, shall remain free — reaping all the 
benefit of the first half of the proposition for three quarters of centurv; 
but so soon as it was possible for freedom to gain by it — then repudiated 
it — holding fast to what they already have — crying out, let us struggle 
for the remainder? Who impudently laid claim, on the ground of con- 
quest, to a State which was conqueror, and forced their cowardly de- 
pendents in these States, under threats of the bayonet, to give them ten 
millions of our money, to induce them to take eighty thousand square 
miles of our territory ? Who — driving us, by carrying arms in the 
United States senate, and threatening violence against the freedom of 
legislation, to abandon the ordinance of 1787, on the plea that the peo- 
ple of each State should determine for themselves the character of her 
institutions, when that State unanimously votes herself free, — declares 
that it shall not be admitted into the Union? Who refused the dele- 
gate of New Mexico a hearing, whilst her territory was being partitioned 
as Poland, in the congress of the United States, because she had the in- 
solence to make a free constitution? Who declares in the United States 
senate — the temple of our liberty — that the declaration of Indepen- 
dence is a lie? What papers north and south, take up the cry and at- 
tempt by bribery, procription, and denunciation to intimidate us into the 
postulate, that we "are slaves?" What was the object of your great 
southern convention? What senator had in his pocket a constitution for 
a "slave republic" to be formed out of the fragments of this Union? 
For what is South Carolina in arms? Why does Alabama, and Geor- 
gia, and Mississippi back her "with rifle in hand?" What means your 
"secession," and your southern "union" party? I say that the decla- 
rators of 1776 had no such list of insufferable grievances as this, against 
the British crown ! In the State of Maine, in those mountain homes 
by the church and the school, lived in simple habits^ undebauch- 
ed by the luxuries of cotton, some of the Puritan blood, who have not 
succumbed to the Austrian doctrine "that the great object of govern- 
ment is the protection of property" — but who yet hold in sacred re- 
membrance the dicta of '76. And they agreed to meet together on that 
glorious day, and revive, if possible, in the hearts of the people, those 
noble principles — yet trusting in the salvation of the republic, and the 
establishment of the liberties of men. And they were kind enough to 
remember me, — who among the down trodden masses of the soixth 
was, in an obscure way, struggling for the same cause — and to invite 
me to be present and unite with them in that manly reunion. I wrote 
them "the Maine letter;" in which I alluded to the threats of the South 
to enslave us by violence — and remembering that I was born free, and 
that the blood of '76 flowed in my vains — I mustered up courage 
enough to say that if I was set upon, I should I'esist force by force, and 
that I would say, once more, as of yore, "Liberty or death !" 

Forthwith, instead of commendation, which was to be expected in 
Kentucky, a State professing to be free, I am denounced as an aboli- 
tionist — an insurrectionist — one who would "cut the throats of the 
whites, that the blacks might marry their wives and daughters." I 
have everywhere debated this subject of slavery in this commonwealth, 
with such moderation and respect to others, as to merit commendation 
from the most bitter opponents. I now confidently trust to Kentucky 



[ 18 ] 

and the world, if evil arises in this struggle, to say upon whose skirts 
the blood shall rest! Yes, I stand by that letter in its spirit, and in its 
words; in its breadth, in its length, and in its depth — at all times — in 
all places — now, and forever. 

Yet I do not intend that mj' position shall be misunderstood. It may 
be misrepresented, but it shall be known! I say then, that I propose 
no other action against slavery, than what is constihdioval and honora- 
ble. But in this Stale, and in the nation, in Asia, in Afiica, in Europe, 
in America, and in all the isles of the seas, whenever, and wherever I 
can strike it a blow, all my enemies may know, that I shall surely do it! 
I will meet argument, with argument: denunciation, with denunciation: 
and force, wiih force ! Am I now understood ? I thought, that this 
old lie of "blood and murder" had been buried here, Avilh the honors 
of war, below the hope of resurrection! I tieat with contempt, the in- 
finite scoundrelism of its attempted revival ! 

Citizens of Fayette, I am the same man, who years ago was honored 
with your confidence. I ask once more your suffrages. You know^ 
that 1 have honestly struggled for the right — the prosperity, the happi- 
ness, the safety, the liberty of this my native commonwealth. I have 
discharged my duty. Set upon, whilst prostrate on a bed of sickness, 
(I speak not in reproach but as history,) and my press removed into a 
distant State — calumniated in my character — put under the social ban, 
and political proscription — Avasted in my property — two years absent 
from home and ftunily, in the Mexican war — nine months a prisoner — 
though bringing back none of the laurels of battle, yet ever subject to 
hunger, thirst, sickness, and death — I lifted up my voice in defence of 
the liberties of the people. Once more cut down, by a mob, escaping 
with life as it were by miracle, I trust by the Providence of God, amidst 
the dissuasion of friends, and threats of personal violence from enemies 
I again go forth through this whole commonwealth, and I tell them 
that their liberties are threatened, and that the issue is, whether we our- 
selves shall be freemen or slaves ! 

Berhaps after next August, you may never again be called upon to 
deliberate upon that awful issue. Treason is already avowed ! — disso- 
lution of these States is demanded ! — the cannon are moulded ! — whilst 
I am now speaking armed men are mustering in the field ! Amidst 
arms, constitutions and laws are silent. What will you do? Are you 
ready for the slave empire of the south? Have you grown tired of 
these republican institutions, which in a half century have built you up 
from insignificant provinces to the first rank among the nations of the 
woild? Do you seek more security for life, liberty and property, than 
the stars and stripes watered with the blood of patriots give you — by 
sea, and shore, resting under its ample folds? 

Ah! are you in love with despotism? "Will you go back to the cast 
off rags of past ccntuiies — returning as a dog to his vomit? Will you 
fraternise with Eussia? Behold her thousand exiles; whose crime is 
the aspiration to be free, — chilled by the frozen snows of Liberia, but 
colder yet at heart — out-lawecl — suffering — dying — miserable in life — 
but yet more miserable in det.th, say they, in the reflection that their 
memory shall perish, and that there shall be no record of their lives — 
no st ne to mark the place of their resting — their ashes unwatered with 
the tears of friendship, or kindred forever ! Are you in love with that? 



[ 19 ] 

"Will you go to Austria, aud see a whole people of gallant spirits, re- 
duced to slavery and national extinction — her defenders put to the 
sword, to torture, and to exile, and the wives and daughters of patriots 
driven nude, through populous cities, and scourged with rods, and dying 
with shame ? Are you in love with that? Will you go to Turkey, and 
rest with Lamartine under the shade of a pyramid in the desert? And 
"upon looking up" said he "I found that it was made of the sckulls of 
thirty thousand Servians, built up in sand and lime," a monument of 
terror eternally to those who like them aspire to be free ! Are you in 
love with that? Will you go to those Bastiles and Prison houses, which 
have been opened up in their secret depths by modern revolutions in Eu- 
rope, to the gaze of men — in whose vaults of "ever during damp," lie 
not only the bleaching bones of men, but the long and silken locks of 
women, and the skeletons of babes, who perish in one common ruin for 
conscience sake ? Have you forgotten the terror and woe which have 
spread like Cimerian darkness over all the earth — the great spirits who 
in all ages have gone up to the scaffold and cannons mouth, that you 
might be free? And will you now begin talking about your slave em- 
pire in the south ! "Congress has become an anti-slavery debating so- 
ciety !" And will you be able to crush liberty of speech and the press 
then? Will you not see that when the liberty of speech and the press 
is gone, all liberty is gone? 

"When the fugitive slave law is repealed, then will the time have 
come for the State of Kentucky to go with the south for the dissolution 
of the Union !" Indeed ! Will you have more slaves returned when 
the Union is dissolved? England returns no slaves now — will you ven- 
ture to lay your hand upon her lion crest when she is backed by fifteen 
milions more of freemen, who change place in the array of arms? Will 
there be more security for your remaining slaves, when the line of free- 
dom is moved down from the frozen lakes, to the Ohio river? Are you 
mad? Will you with five hundred thousand masters, on one side, and 
three millions of slaves, and five millions of white labourers, reduced to 
like servitude; on the other, appeal from the reason and consciences of 
men to the sword ? Will you look abroad for help ? From the frozen 
' ocean of the north, to the stormy capes of the far south, there runs 
through two continents, a consolidated phalanx of nations, who have 
sworn that slave States are the outlaws of nations ! From all the 
leading nations of Europe, comes a voice in the literature, in the polit- 
ical avowals, in the consciences, in the armies, and in the navies — we'll 
have no more of slavery — "anathema sit !" 

No, you cannot if you would succeed ! From the earliest ages to 
the present times, the liberties of men, have been more and more es- 
tablished. Nations have become more and more free; and more and 
more have the civil rights of individiial men been established by law — 
and more and more is recognized the fi'aternity and equality of man in 
the eyes of God ! 

If you are indeed wise, and of that saxon blood of which you boast, 
the best, you Avill follow the example of England from whom you draw 
your descent. When the millions of labourers cried out for cheap 
bread, instead of answering them with cannon shot, and the bayonet — 
she repealed the tariff upon provisions, and yielded the monopoly which 
her ruling aristocracy enjoyed! When the great principles of G/»d- 



[ 20 ] 

given equality had taken hold of the hearts of eight millions of Irish 
men, instead of appealing to the sword, she passed the Irish Catholic- 
emancipation bill; by which Protestant and Catholic enjoy equal re- 
ligious liberties ! And to-day England stands perhaps, firmer in the 
affections of her subjects, than ever before in her history. 

Is France the example you would follow ? Then read in her. your 
own fate ! There you saw Louis Philippe, one of the coolest, and 
wisest of men, with public and private means beyond any monarch of 
his times; and he too would appeal to the bayonet! And he arrayed 
around Paris three hundred thousand armed men; and the cannon, and 
the musket pointed upon every street, and upon every work-shop. But 
the French people remembered the tyranies of the past, and they had 
felt the Divine inspirations of liberty, equality, and fraternity; and 
through the press, the telegraph, and the quick communication of ideas, 
the soldiers and the people sympathised — and from a miUion of souls 
came the anthem terrible only to tyrants: 

"Arise — arise — ye brave, 
Tlie avenging sword uu sheath, 
March on — march on — all hearts resolved 
On Liberty, or Death!" 

And such was the power of truth and heroism, that without the fire- 
ing of a gun, the king and his abettors were driven in dismay from 
their strong holds, into exile; and a republic was established upon the ru- 
ins of the monarchy ! No ! I tell you slavery must die ! The tree of 
liberty has been planted; and whether watered with the dews of beni- 
ficence and progress, or the tears of blood and woe of a false conser- 
vatism, it shall overspread the earth, till all men shall be free ! 

Meet us then in the spirit of amity, and true conservatism which we 
offer you. Let Kentucky take her position at once where her destiny 
decrees, among the free States of the Union. Be not deluded by the 
folly and madness of Thos. Metcalf, and such anarchists; but listen to 
a higher intellect and a nobler patriot — John J. Crittenden; who, in his 
message to the legislature, said: "The dissolution of these States can- 
not be a remedy for any evil, because it is itself, the greatest of all 
evils." There stand the emancipationists of Kentucky. Holding on 
to the constitution of 1789, they repudiate all attempts, under whatever 
pretence of "compromise," to assume a new basis of union. Believing 
with Washington, that it is the palladium of liberty to us and our pos- 
terity, we stand by it, in good and evil report — for better or for worse; 
indissolubly united — against those, who would break it down to liberate 
the Africans — and against those, who would dissolve it, with the crimi- 
nal vieAV of perpetuating slavery among men ! We are opposed to in- 
terference with the rights of the States; but believing in the supremacy 
of the national government, we give, there, our first allegiance. That 
government was created in its own language "to secure the blessings of 
liberty to ourselves and our posterity," which can only be done by "es- 
tablishing justice," "Liberty and Union," therefore, is the spirit which 
thall guide us ever in our national policy. A great continent opens to 
us its virgin bosom — the fate of millions wait upon us — the eyes of na- 
tions follow — the aspirations of mankind are for wisdom in our councils; 
ihe hand of Destiny is upon us — America — the world must and will be 
FREE. 



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